On the Trail with Lewis and Clark

"

In the fall of 1805, Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery journeyed west through the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. The explorers marveled at the “beautifull cascades which fell from a great hight over the stupendious rocks.”

They glimpsed the Cascades’ snow-covered peaks, admired the “emence” fir trees, and were kept awake at night by noisy flocks of geese and ducks. At the coast, they remarked on the pounding surf, watched bald eagles, observed California condors and sea otters, and found the remains of a whale.

While much has changed in the past 200 years, you may still follow the explorers’ path and observe the same kind of spectacular scenery that Lewis and Clark cataloged in their remarkable journals. The expedition traveled by canoe, exploring the Columbia’s rocky banks on foot, observing the tall basalt cliffs that form the Columbia Gorge. The cliffs that serve as the backdrop for these falls are more than 16 million years old, shaped by glaciers and flooding during the Ice Age.

The river’s Oregon shore can now be explored from the Historic Columbia River Highway, which provides easy access to one of the largest concentrations of high waterfalls in the country. Multnomah Falls is the most famous of the waterfalls; with waters plummeting 620 feet from its source on Larch Mountain, it’s the second-highest year-round waterfall in the country.

To help yourself relate to Lewis and Clark, hike the trail a couple of miles upstream along forested Eagle Creek to Punch Bowl Falls, which tumbles through a beautiful scoop of rock and sparkles with hints of aqua and turquoise blue.

Many of the trees and shrubs you’ll encounter here — Oregon ash, Oregon white oak and Western red cedar among them — were first identified for Western science by Lewis and Clark. Watch for the deep blue, black-crested Steller’s jay, first described by Capt. Lewis in 1805.

In the fall — the season the Corps of Discovery first traveled through the region — you’ll see brilliant orange leaves of vine maple. Watch for the bright yellow, bronze and ochre leaves of bigleaf maple, cottonwood, oak and ash, a striking contrast to the deep green of the towering fir and hemlock trees. Look for sumac, Oregon grape, salal and huckleberry turning russet red.

As you admire the fall foliage, consider returning in the spring when more than 500 species of wildflowers begin to bloom in the Gorge — including a dozen or so varieties that are unique to the region. In the spring of 1806, Lewis and Clark saw salmonberries, thimbleberries, and wild roses, all of which still grow in the Gorge.

Continuing west, Lewis and Clark stopped in early November at an island located at the
confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, now known as Sauvie Island. At this camp, the explorers saw flocks of ducks, geese and swans.

Today, Sauvie Island remains a good spot to see fall and winter birds. Watch for migrating sandhill cranes and bald eagles that nest here in winter. Other migrating and resident birds you’re likely to see: red-tailed and rough-legged hawks, northern harriers, kestrels, osprey, great blue herons, egrets, Western grebes, cormorants, snow geese, Canada geese and kingfishers. Also watch for a variety of ducks, including green-winged and cinnamon teal, mergansers, northern shovelers and wood ducks.

Lewis and Clark explored the northern banks of the Columbia, then established their winter camp, which they named Fort Clatsop, on what’s now the Oregon side of the river. In December and January, Lewis and Clark wandered south to explore the coastline. Here they described “a small Crow …the bald Eagle and the beautifull Buzzard of the columbia,” the California condor.

On a fall or winter trip to the Oregon Coast, you might appreciate Lewis and Clark’s laments about the weather.

“O! how Tremendious is the day,” wrote Capt. Clark while camped near Fort Clatsop. “This dredfull wind and rain continued with intervales of fair weather.”

In the winter of 1806, Lewis and Clark updated their journals, recording descriptions of seals, chinook, sockeye and coho salmon. “Altho we have not fared sumptuously this winter,” wrote Capt. Lewis, “we have lived quite as comfortably as we had any reason to expect…the leafing of the hucklebury riminds us of spring.”

For more information on Lewis and Clark Bicentennial events in Oregon go to www.lcbo.org.